Homework

Homework Intent

Pupils receive two main types of homework at St Aidan’s:

1. Ascent work – Subject teachers set homework which supports pupils to climb their own mountains: giving stability; providing nourishment; recognising learning as the fundamental focus of all our work; ensuring that each child can develop as a whole person and ‘celebrate life to the full’ in order to reach the summits of their mountains. During pupils’ ascent it is vital that a secure knowledge of the curriculum is acquired. The ascent homework focuses on Key Concept driven essential knowledge for pupils to build upon allowing them then to fully access the breadth and depth of the curriculum.

2. Summit work- Subject Teachers set homework that promotes pupil independence, exploration and discovery in order to thrive and flourish as a whole person, developing the necessary knowledge and skills to open doors to a successful career, apprenticeship, employment or Higher/Further Education. Our aim is to provide a platform that consistently challenges all pupils to reach higher, to never settle for mediocrity and to be intrinsically motivated to be the best possible version of themselves at all times.

Ascent Work

100% Work (Y7-11)

All pupils will be provided with a 100% book, which contains all of the key knowledge, vocabulary and skills they need to learn for each of their subjects. The purpose of the 100% Book is to utilise retrieval practice in order to promote pupil learning. Retrieval practice strengthens the cues that enable retrieval of previously learnt material. In struggling to remember something that is almost forgotten, pupils search for connections that help bring it back to mind. The act of successfully retrieving and rehearsing something that is to be remembered leaves a trace in the memory that makes the path easier to follow again. Securing this knowledge base will allow pupils to develop their skills of understanding, analysis and evaluation in lessons more effectively.

Retrieval works best when successful retrieval attempts are repeated and for that reason the 100% sheets are used daily for homework with all pupils, which is set during morning meeting. Pupils should use ‘look, cover, write, check, respond’ to learn the content of the key skills, key knowledge and key vocabulary section of the specified 100% sheet.

Look – Pupils are first of all asked to read through the 100% sheet assigned for homework that evening including saying aloud each of the key vocabulary terms.
Cover & write – This is the active step. Pupils need to remove the information from view and then engage in a generative recall process; noting down all information given within the key skills, key knowledge and key vocabulary boxes. This may include drawing and labelling any diagrams, and the definitions of key vocabulary.
Check – After the generative process, it is important that pupils reveal the covered information to check the accuracy of their recall. Using a green pen, pupils should correct any spelling mistakes, missing bits or mistakes.
Respond – The final step is to allow pupils to apply their new knowledge to a series of questions helping them to activate their learning.

To gain the most benefit, pupils do need to successfully retrieve a certain amount of the information during retrieval practice, and for this reason pupils will be tested on the content of the book each day during morning meeting in addition to regular testing by staff within lesson time. Testing not only aids retention but also helps identify gaps in knowledge. The tests will be accessible to all pupils and consist of a series of short-answer and multiple-choice questions.

ALL pupils will complete the 100% work daily – this will be recorded in a red notebook to ensure pupils take pride in their work and value it; staff will regularly remind pupils of the importance of retrieval – Practice makes Permanent!
Work completed will be signed (initialled) and dated by form teachers during the 11am reading canon session.
Teachers will use the 100% book to check the boxes are being completed in the correct way. Regular socialisation and practice will occur in Y7-11 to allow pupils to get this right.
The 100% book should be utilised in all lessons.
Pupils not completing the 100% work correctly will receive a correction. Repeat offenders will receive additional support at break. Heads of House will monitor and action this.

Independent reading for pleasure (Y7-11)

Pupils should do 20mins (minimum) of independent reading for pleasure each night. This could be silent reading or reading aloud to parents/ family member. Exposing pupils to a culture where storytelling is valued and rich, aids all of us: it enables older pupils to look to anecdotes to help them understand new concepts; it helps younger pupils assimilate ideas; and it encourages us all to think about our curriculum as a collection of great stories of world culture.

Numeracy Work (Y7-11)

At St Aidan’s we believe a strong focus on numeracy is essential: all children and young people require numeracy skills to gain access to learning and to succeed in life.
Pupils in Years 7-10 will complete 90 minutes of homework on Sparx; this will include multiplication practice for year 7.
Pupils in Year 11 will complete 60 minutes on Sparx and an additional 30 minutes completing practice exam questions or independent learning on Sparx in order to fill gaps in knowledge.
Homework on Sparx is bespoke to each individual allowing everyone to succeed whilst still being challenged through the use of AI. Short videos are available to support pupils if they are finding any questions difficult and to close gaps in knowledge.
The first hour of homework comprises of 60% new content linking to the taught curriculum and 40% retrieval practice. This core component is only considered complete when pupils have answered all questions accurately to achieve 100%. The remaining 30 minutes of ‘Target’ work provides additional challenge to develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum. Pupils are expected to attempt all questions within the ‘Target’ section but do not need to achieve 100%.
All pupils will have an orange homework book in which they must show all working out and answers to the work they are completing. The quality of work and presentation in these books will be checked by class teachers on the due date for the homework.
Sparx Homework club takes place every Monday at 2:50pm and is open to all pupils who require any additional support.
If pupils do not complete this homework to the required standard it will be recorded on Classcharts as a correction in the usual way.
Parents will receive weekly updates via email regarding progress and completion of Sparx homework.
Celebrating outcomes: The Maths department develop league tables
The following video will provide further guidance to successfully navigate and support your son with Sparx maths:

Knowledge Gap tasks (Y7-9)

Formative assessment:

Following a formative assessment Y7 and Y8 teachers will plan a knowledge gap lesson to address common misconceptions and weaknesses of the class, no additional homework is set.
Following a formative assessment in Y9-11, teachers should set a short homework based on the common misconceptions and weaknesses of the class. This can be delivered via an online platform or paper-based activity. The activity will be appropriate for the pupils allowing them to close the knowledge gaps and develop a secure knowledge of the curriculum.
Class teachers will take responsibility to quality assure the homework of each pupil; at this point staff will identify issues: lack of effort or lack of understanding, for example. If lack of effort, an appropriate sanction will be applied; if lack of understanding then further individualised intervention will be provided.

Summative assessment:

Following a summative assessment in Y7-9 a review lesson will occur to address the individual pupil gaps in line with the MARR document (pupils do not receive a homework task for Summative assessments in Y7-9).

Knowledge Gap tasks (Y10/11)

Knowledge Gap Tasks for Year 10 and Year 11 – these will be issued following a formative and summative assessment.

Formative assessment:

Teachers will set a short homework based on the common misconceptions and weaknesses of the class. This can be delivered via an online platform or paper-based activity. The activity will be appropriate for the pupils and allow them to close the knowledge gaps, developing a secure knowledge of the curriculum.
Class teachers will take responsibility to quality assure the homework of each pupil. At this point staff will identify issues: lack of effort or lack of understanding, for example. If lack of effort, an appropriate sanction will be applied; if lack of understanding then further individualised intervention should be provided.

Summative assessment:

Pupils in Y10 and Y11 will complete a review lesson to address misconceptions, weaknesses and allow teachers to set task(s) that address individual weaknesses/need for the individual pupil. See MARR for details.
In addition to this, pupils will also receive a knowledge gap task that is tailored to individual needs. Class teachers will take responsibility to quality assure the homework of each pupil; at this point staff will identify issues: lack of effort or lack of understanding, for example. If lack of effort an appropriate sanction will be applied; if lack of understanding then further individualised intervention will be provided.
All knowledge gap tasks are designed to ensure pupils develop a secure knowledge of the taught curriculum.

All formative assessments will be marked using the visualiser as outlined in the marking policy.

All homework, including knowledge gap tasks will be recorded on Classcharts to ensure parents are informed.

Summit Work

CLIMB

All pupils participate in our exciting CLIMB initiative which provides a diverse range of experiences to enable each individual to begin their journey to the top of their own personal mountain. Pupils engage in a range of tasks to reach milestones on their mountain every academic year. Pupils will access and log their progress through

Year 7 & 8

All pupils will be expected to participate in additional reading at indicated points across the cycle related to the St Aidan’s Reading Canon. This will be set by the Form Tutor.

Subject specific Scholarly Reading

Year 9

All pupils will be expected to participate in additional reading at indicated points across the cycle related to the St Aidan’s Reading Canon. This will be set by the Form Tutor.

Subject specific Scholarly Reading

Teams – Pupils will have access to additional reading material and multimedia links such as documentaries, podcasts, films, programmes and other tasks to complete from each subject area, within the ‘Character Development’ Team each CYCLE. Pupils can complete as many of the tasks as they wish as the cycle progresses.

A member of leadership will collate the information from subject leads and update the character development team. This will happen once a cycle.

Year 10 & 11

All pupils will be expected to participate in additional reading at indicated points across the cycle related to the St Aidan’s Reading Canon. This will be set by the Form Tutor.

Subject specific Scholarly Reading

Pupils will have access to careers activities through the summit work. For Year 11 Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 the work will be amended to address careers based links via Unifrog.

When pupils click on the careers button it will direct them to Unifrog. Here, there is a locker room where information about HE and FE can be shared, embedding further Gatsby Benchmarks for 2, 4 and 7. The Careers Officer will work closely with the Leadership link to ensure the connections are strong and purposeful.

Pupils who submit any subject based summit work should be given an effort grade and appropriate Classcharts points. Pupils who log into Unifrog and complete work on there will be awarded points by the Careers Officer which will subsequently feed into Classcharts.

Pupil’s efforts are to be acknowledged in House points, league tables, website feed and social media. The Pastoral Team will coordinate this.